To decrease the risk of accident or injury during various driving situations, a driver of a non-autonomous vehicle may bodily signal to a third-party who is external to the vehicle, e.g., a pedestrian or cyclist, to assure the third-party that the driver is aware of the third-party's presence. For example, as a driver approaches a crosswalk that a pedestrian is waiting to use, the pedestrian and the driver may make eye contact, thereby affirmatively verifying that the driver is aware of the pedestrian's presence. Subsequently, the driver may signal to the pedestrian that it is safe for the pedestrian to use the crosswalk, e.g., by a nod of the driver's head or a wave of the driver's hand. In another example, when multiple drivers approach a four-way stop, the drivers may make eye contact and bodily provide signals with each other (e.g., head nod, hand wave, or other) to determine and acknowledge which driver is to proceed into the intersection. As such, human beings are able to perform defensive signaling with one another to ensure safety and decrease the risk of accident or injury. For example, a human driver is able to bodily signal or communicate to a third-party to indicate that the third-party has been detected by the driver, and is able to nonverbally communicate with the third-party to determine, clarify, and confirm subsequent actions to ensure the safety of the third-party and of the driver, as well as to avoid accident or injury.